Reporting as of March 5, 2012. 

During the past 12 months 18,366 homes have sold, a 6.5% increase from the previous 12 month period. 

In February 1261 homes sold, a 12.5% increase from January's total, and a 20% increase year over year.

There are currently 2175 residential properties that are under contract but have yet to close.

The following chart shows the total number of homes for sale by month for the past 2 years. There

are currently 11,555 homes for sale, which is 19% lower than the same time last year . 

This is the fewest number of properties for sale in January since 2007.

Distressed properties continue to be a significant part of the Hampton Roads real estate market. 

Currently 22% of all properties listed for sale could be classified as distressed, meaning they are 

bank owned, government owned, or subject to a short sale. Of the properties that sold in February 

32% were distressed . That is a large , almost 7%, decrease from the previous month's total. 

Housing High Point: Pending Sales of Existing Homes Up to Nearly Two-Year High 

More Americans are signing contracts to buy existing homes than at any time in nearly two years, boosting the housing industry’s 

*Market Data courtesy of REIN, deemed accurate but not guaranteed. Copyright 2012. All Rights Reserved 

We’ve all heard the saying, “Good Fences Make Good Neighbors” but often times the construction of a new fence in

 the neighborhood causes problems as well.

It is a kind gesture to consult with your neighbors before constructing a fence in your yard. Here are some thoughts to consider. It is important to check your property lines before construction of your new fence. This is a great time to chat with neighbors and mention your the possibility of your new fence. Checking a property line can be as simple as locating the existing pins that were put in place by a surveyor at the time your home was built. If you are unable to locate the pins on your property, it is best to consult with your county records office.

To decrease unexpected problems, safety hazards and costs, notify your utilities before construction. Many states have free assessments and tagging of utilities for construction projects.

If you are working with a contractor, chance are that they will pull a building permit for you. However, if you are a do-it-yourself installer, contacting your local city and obtaining a building permit is an important step that is often overlooked. A building permit serves as permission from your municipality. Every city or county has different rules. Each area has different rules. Though some projects do not require a building permit, most city’s require a permit for major remodeling, new buildings, swimming pools and demolition.

After you have selected your fence, obtained the necessary permits and are ready for construction, you can ask for your neighbors’ thoughts on the project. Consider asking them if there are any times that they would prefer construction not occur. Review your fence selection with them and ask their thoughts on the material, placement and height of the fence.

Though your neighbors may have some negative comments or suggestions about your fencing plan, you should still move forward with what is best for your family as long as it is within the law.

Remember your new fence is also your neighbors new fence. In the end, your neighbors will thank you for including them in your decision and are more likely to welcome your new fence if they are involved in the process.

Thanks to modern medicine, Americans are living longer. And they’re more active than ever before in their later

years. If you’re a homebuilder or real estate professional, it’s important that you understand how this change in our culture affects home selection.

First of all, you’ll have a larger population of senior citizens. Baby Boomers have officially hit retirement age, and at 76 million strong, that’s the second largest generation in this country (Gen Y is number one at 78 million). And don’t think that this generation that redefined “old age”—thank you, Bruce Springsteen, Steve Jobs, and Madonna—will give up their lifestyles for a nursing home. They want to remain in their homes and communities.

A new concept has come about from the increasing numbers of seniors. “Aging in place” means a person or couple doesn’t have to give up their home as they age. They don’t have to move to a retirement community or nursing home where they give into the aging process. We’re now seeing “aging in place” communities that provide vital services so that residents can stay in their homes. Providing visiting nurses, lawn mowing, snow plowing, meal deliveries, computer assistance, and other such in-home help is the norm in such communities. Thanks to more areas adopting an “aging in place” mindset, we have more seniors who no longer have to give up their pets, belongings, friends, and most importantly, the feeling of independence.

With such a large population, put some thought into how you can find ways to support “aging in place” and match people with homes and communities where they can stay for many years to come.

Once you find the perfect house for you, it’s time to make an offer. It’s important to understand what’s

 included in a purchase offer because if it’s accepted, it’s a binding, legal contract. So, know what you’re signing! And don’t be discouraged if the seller comes back with a counter offer. Negotiation is a normal part of the process.

A standard purchase offer will include: 

The full names of both the buyer and the seller.

The address of the property. A legal description of the property usually will be attached.

The price you’re offering to pay for the house. If you offer less than the listing price, this usually is a starting point for negotiation. The seller may come back to you with a different amount. That’s called a counter offer.

Response time. You will list a date and time by which the seller needs to respond to your offer.

Earnest money. This is basically a deposit; it shows that you’re serious about wanting to buy the house. It’s different from a down payment, which is paid at the closing. Earnest money is held in the real estate agent’s or attorney’s account until the deal closes. If the deal doesn’t close, you’ll get it back or forfeit it, depending on the reason it didn’t work out.

Information and time limit on financing. This will state how you plan to pay for the house. If you need financing, there’s a time limit for you to obtain a loan.

Right of inspection and request for repairs. This requires the seller to make the house available for an inspection and asks them to make necessary repairs, usually to a particular dollar amount or percentage of the sale price. Even if a house is being sold as-is, you can demand an inspection. If it turns up a problem you’re not willing to take on, you can back out without losing your earnest money.

The date for closing and possession of the property. This is the date by which the transaction needs to be completed, and the date that you can move into the house.
Closing costs. This section will cover each party’s obligations for paying costs associated with the sale, such as the fee for the home inspection, the appraisal and the lender’s fees.

Final walk-through before closing. This provision gives you one last chance to inspect the house for problems before you sign the papers to close the deal.

Contingencies. Contingencies are situations that would need to happen before you can buy the house, such as selling your house, the house passing inspection or obtaining an acceptable appraisal.

Items to stay with the property.  These are things you’d like the seller to leave in the house for you. It usually includes major appliances, but could also include certain pieces of furniture, window coverings or lawn equipment.

Oh, and one last thing. Don’t forget to sign the offer! Contracts aren’t valid until all parties have signed them.

Here are some basic tips to make choosing homeowners’ insurance an easier task:

1. Get past the advertising fluff. When selling your home and buying a new one, your mailbox becomes a sieve of solicitations—and one of the front-line offenders are homeowners’ insurance companies. Our quick scan of the latest bunch of mailings reveals quite a few boasting fancy packaging and idealistic images of beautiful homes with magazine-ready design schemes. They’re often printed on pricey paper stock and feature florid writing poetically telling you how they can help you protect your home and all the prized possessions it contains, better than any other company can. Just because a company has the advertising budget for big mailings, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the best. It’s quite possible that you might do just fine with a company that sends you a mailing—but you might do even better with another company that never sends solicitation mailings. The boil-down is this: don’t just go with the first thing you see, even if it seems good.

2. Consult your state’s resources. Choosing from a huge array of large national insurance companies can be daunting; that’s why it’s a good idea to start in your state. Your state will likely have an insurance, consumer advocacy or chamber of commerce website offering homeowner’s insurance tips. The benefit to a state site is that it gives you a good idea as to what your insurance covers given your particular state’s weather conditions and home wear and zoning issues. These sites also give information on important state codes; it’s critical to check that the company you’re researching understands these codes extremely well. Finally, many state sites list consumer complaints against particular companies from residents in your state.

3. Make sure the coverage is not only extensive, but appropriate for you. A homeowner may come across a potential company with a good service record and reputation, but that doesn’t mean its ideal for them. Look at the details of what the company focuses on. If a company looks great overall, but they emphasize snow and ice damage in all their marketing materials, it’s not going to be right for you if you live in Southeastern Virginia—no matter how great a company it is. Make sure the company’s strong points match the needs of your particular home and geographical area.

4. Familiarize yourself with the claim process. The insurance company might advertise the fact that you can make frequent claims for repairs, but many companies hike up your premium if you frequently file small claims. This isn’t necessarily unethical, as it’s often stated in the fine print, but it could definitely hurt your wallet; that’s why it’s smart to ask up front how both routine/small and catastrophic claims might affect premiums. At the most, asking will ultimately save you money, i.e., you can do a small repair yourself instead of filing a claim for it, and ultimately the money you spend on the repair might be less than the premium hike.

5. Know the condition of your home. It’s impossible to effectively choose homeowners’ insurance unless you know the condition of your home inside and out. For instance, if you have a roof that’s prone to leakiness and not in the best shape, you’ll obviously want to avoid a policy that doesn’t cover this sort of thing. The best way to learn about issues in your home is to get a home inspection of your new home by a certified, reputable home inspector. The home inspector will examine your new home for any potential faults and issues to watch for; this is incredibly powerful ammunition in choosing the right homeowners’ insurance, and can save a lot of money in the event anything goes wrong and you find yourself in the claim-filing process.

Be sure to ask your friends and relatives for recommendations and use your REALTOR(R) as a resource.

Open more doors with an FHA Condominium Approval
Courtesy of Advance Mortgage Company. Help increase financing options for your property's prospective buyers and current owners.
We can help make your community even better with an FHA condominium project approval and specialized home financing – providing you an opportunity
to increase your development’s value by better serving your residents’ needs.

The importance of an FHA project approval
Did you know an FHA approval for condominium projects is now required?

Beginning in 2010 if your condominium development is not approved by FHA, your current homeowners and future homebuyers are not able to utilize the most
readily available mortgage program - FHA financing. This in turn may limit their ability to refinance or purchase a home within your community.

An FHA condominium project approval can help you keep homeowners happy
and sell a property’s potential to buyers.
• Larger buying pool – Including first-time homebuyers and low-to-moderate
income residents
• Convenient – Value-add for your homebuyers
• Accommodating – Higher homeowner satisfaction with HOA board and/or
management company
• Resale marketing perks – Fully assumable “built-in” financing for qualified
future buyers
Government-sponsored mortgage financing may provide your owners and buyers:
• Flexible credit and income-qualifying guidelines
• A variety of fixed- and adjustable-rate loan terms
• Down payments as low as 3.5%
• Maximized availability of mortgage products, including reverse mortgages
for senior homeowners*
• Access to Downpayment Assistance Programs (DAPs)

Contact Advance Mortgage to learn more and get started with your project approval process.

*Must be at least 62 years of age. Call for more detailed program information.
This information is for home owners associations, management companies, and real estate
professionals only and is not intended for distribution to consumers or other third parties.
Wells Fargo Home Mortgage is a division of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. 2010 Wells Fargo Bank,

N.A. All rights reserved.

Most homeowners will only sell a house a few times in their lives. It's an incredibly important process;

 done correctly, it can be very successful financially. That's why the process of selling a house needs to start with choosing a real estate agent who knows your market and can help you properly market your house at the right price to the right buyers. Yet with so much at stake, many homeowners choose a real estate agent because the agent is a family member, a neighbor or someone they met in a coffee shop.

If you’re getting ready to put your house on the market, you should choose your real estate agent with the same care that you would use to select a doctor, an attorney or an accountant. It's important because a good real estate agent will serve as your representative in the real estate transaction. They will make recommendations on things to do to help sell your house for the highest possible price and the shortest amount of time. They’ll make sure that your home is marketed to the right group of prospective buyers, handle negotiations on any offers that are submitted and check on the ability of buyers to get financing. It’s a big job.

Here are some tips to help you select a real estate agent when you're selling a house:

Get recommendations from people who have sold houses in your area in the last year. The market for sellers is extremely competitive; you want an agent who has been successful selling houses like yours under the current conditions. Ask what their agent did to market their house, how long it took to sell, the listing price and the price at which the house eventually sold. (If these questions seem too personal to ask, the information may be available on real estate websites such as Trulia.com or Zillow.com.)

Attend open houses in your neighborhood. See how the listing agent represents the property to prospective buyers, both in the presentation and in the printed materials about the house.

Once you've done these things, make a short list of the agents with whom you were most impressed and call each of them to ask for presentations. You'll want to receive a comparative market analysis to determine a range for a sale price, suggestions on things you could do to your house to get the best possible price, information on how they would market your home, and the terms of their listing agreement.

You'll want to ask:
-Is real estate your full-time job?
-How long have you worked in real estate?
-Are you a member of the local Multiple Listing Service (MLS)? This is critical for reaching the widest range of prospective buyers.
-Are you a REALTOR®? Only members of the National Association of of REALTORS® can use this title; the term means the agent follows and is bound by the NAR's standards and code of ethics, which often far exceed state requirements for licensing.
-Do you hold any professional designations, such as the National Association of  REALTORS® Green Designation? These real estate professionals are specialists in marketing the value of energy-efficient, sustainable homes. 
-How many listings do you have -- and how many houses have you sold -- in our neighborhood and price range in the past 12 months? An agent with several dozen listings may sound very experienced, but the more important question is how many houses they've listed that have sold, how quickly they've sold in comparison to the overall marketing and at what price they've sold in comparison to the original listing price. This will give you a very good picture of how well they understand the market in your area.

Check the status of their license. Every state requires real estate agents to be licensed, and to keep their licenses in good standing. The licensing agencies have the authority to suspend or revoke an agent's license for misconduct. Check with your state's regulatory agency -- it's often a department of professional regulation -- to see if any complaints have been filed or disciplinary action has been taken. If the agent is a REALTOR®, you can check their standing with your local Board of REALTORS®.

If you’re buying a house for the first time, you’re coming across a lot of terms you might not have heard before.

One of those is title insurance.

This is one of those things you’re required to purchase if you’re going to have a mortgage. But even if you’re paying cash for your home, title insurance offers invaluable coverage. Here’s why. 

Even if you’re buying a brand-new house, you’re not the first owner of the house or the land that it sits on. The property could have changed ownership any number of times over the generations. Every time it was sold or passed down from one person to another, the title changed hands. Papers were signed, deeds were recorded, taxes were assessed and work was done. But paperwork can get lost, county warehouses full of old records burn down, signatures can be forged, taxes don’t always get paid, permits don’t always get pulled for work done on the property, and unpaid plumbers can file liens. Heirs can show up who have a claim to the property. Wills can be contested.

Title insurance protects the titleholder (either your mortgage company or you) against legal claims that come from these kinds of problems.

Unlike other kinds of insurance you buy, which covers you from the day your policy is purchased going forward, title insurance covers you for things that happened before you bought your coverage. Another difference from other kinds of insurance is that instead of paying a monthly or annual premium, you only pay the premium once, when you close on your house.

There are three kinds of title insurance coverage: a lender’s policy, a basic owner’s policy and an extended owner’s policy.

A lender’s policy is exactly what it sounds like. It covers your lender, up to the amount of the loan. If you have a mortgage, you’ll be required to provide your lender with title insurance. It protects them, not you.

A basic owner’s policy covers things such as forged or fraudulent signatures on a title, a deed executed through an expired or invalid power of attorney, mistakes in recording the title, or unpaid liens from inheritance, gift, estate or income taxes. 

An extended owner’s policy covers such as building permit and covenant violations from previous owners, incorrect surveys and living trusts.

Talk to your trusted real estate professional about the cost and benefits of title insurance. 

You’ve found the perfect dream home and interest rates are still very low. Everyone keeps saying it’s the best time to buy and you

want to jump on that train. There’s just one thing standing in the way of your new home: a down payment.

Saving for a down payment is hard work. Its difficult to turn down a weekend getaway or a night out with friends, but pinching pennies is the best way to start saving. If you have a definite goal in mind, making small sacrifices shouldn’t be much of a challenge. Here are some other ways that will help you come up with the extra money.

Determine how much you need. Find out the exact amount for your down payment and that will keep you motivated to track your progress. Try to save up 20% of the cost of your home and set a deadline. This will keep you focused.

Pay off your Plastic. When you carry a credit card balance, interest is constantly accruing and that means more of your money to the card companies. Free up more of your income by paying off the most money-sucking credit cards.

Start a separate Bank Account. This is always a good idea to stash money away in savings account whether you have $1 or $1,000 to put into it at first. This will also help you avoid tapping into it for other expenses.

Tap into your IRA. Tax laws will allow first-time homebuyers use up to $10,000 in funds towards a down payment. If you’ve never owned a home before, the government waives the penalty for early withdrawl.

Family Gifts. Many times Grandparents, parents, in-laws or even siblings may be willing to give you a gift of money to help you get that first home. Most lenders are okay with a gift from family as long as it doesn’t have to be repaid. A gift letter from that person will satisfy this.

Check into Special Programs. Because buyers struggling to come up with a down payment have varying range of incomes, many government and local agencies have aid available.

Ask for a Raise.  No luck finding a benefactor? It could be time to ask your boss for more money, but just make sure that it based on your accomplishments rather than your needs.

Sell Unwanted Items. There could be some forgotten items or things you wouldn’t mind giving up for money, or down payment. Go ahead, clean out your closet, attic or garage. Another man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Websites like Craigslist and eBay make it easy for you to auction off these things.

Fall has always been known as the time to seed or re-seed your yard for a better established lawn the following spring, but did you know this applies to many other types of plants? This is especially true for wildflowers. All year long flowering plants in the wild bloom and sprout, then drop their seeds in late summer or early fall.

Hearty varieties of wildflowers, which bloom in mid-summer, "go to seed" (meaning they drop their seeds as the blooms die) as fall approaches and either sprout before winter prohibits, or wait until spring. This all depends on the arrival or severity of winter. Its a little different in a controlled environment such as your landscaping. Here, you'll have to take charge and do the work nature was designed to do.

One big advantage of fall planting is that its usually more relaxed than spring planting. Just plant before the ground freezes. The weather in the fall is really more predictable than in spring.

Fall planting has one other advantage. The weed seed content in the soil is unpredictable. If your seed planting is delayed until spring, the weed seeds have had all winter to prepare and may begin to sprout with a little more muscle. But, if you sow your seeds now, they'll be on a level playing field and can start to sprout along with the weeds in spring.

Now is the time to mulch your garden. This is good for many reasons. In addition to providing a "blanket" of protection over the root systems, it insulates and discourages winter growth of weeds and grasses where you don't want them. Also, mulching helps in reducing the evaporation of precious water, while keeping the area protected against winter storms. And this, in turn, helps ensure against soil erosion. 

Most of us handle our home's landscaping ourselves. Consulting a professional landscaping firm is a good idea. They can provide a plan that makes the most of each season. And usually after initial installation, designs are easy to maintain. A well-designed yard adds a lot of "curb appeal" to your home. Be sure to know your desired "garden personality" before talking with the professional. Do you like native planting for a more natural look and feel? Are you looking for vivid colors and a more regimented look? And always ask about "green" alternatives to the products and fertilizers you are using.